Blog and Paintings

I love road trips. Last time when we were traversing across black forest, it was not the kind of experience I really cherish because i wasn't behind the wheels. I still haven't exchanged my Indian Driving License to get an European License so had to be happy to buckle on the passenger's seat.

Badly smitten by the wild dream of driving all by myself on a long and endless journey, I was quick to spot the opportunity when I had to my car from Banngalore to Bhubaneswar. My father urged me to book a professional car carrier, but I firmly expressed my desire to drive it all the way to Bhubaneswar. Having just recovered from chicken pox, I wasn't in all that good shape - my stomach was still struggling and the spots on my faces were still visible. However my spirit was indomitable. I had to make this journey at any cost.

I had one companion - Uttam Da... who helped me stay awake during tiresome phases of this journey with his humor, stories and casual narrations about different topic. If you are with a friend in such long journeys, you will be surprised with his revelations and mysteries... because the journey is long and topics dry up fast.... with the endless roads and endless time, one becomes more susceptible to talk about things which under normal circumstances he would never share.

We had a fabulous journey spanning 3 days and 2 nights. We stayed in 2 hotels for night-stay - first night at Nellore and second at Rajahmundry. The journey map is shown below -

We couldn't start early because i needed to change the engine oil. The concorde tata Motors Service-person was kind enough to allow my vehicle sneak past the long queue of saturday vehichles waiting for servicing, and my vehicle was all ready for the long journey... around 11:30 AM we headed straight towards Tirupati... the road was very badly congested - if you are living in Bangalore you would know what i mean... Finally we got past the heavy traffic in Bangalore...and once we crossed the city - after some 70-80 kms... we breathed in sighs of relief and I was happy to crank the engine past 80 km per hour.

After some time we started feeling hungry and were lucky to find a restaurant out of nowhere.

here we were pampered with 2 delicious south indian meals by the overly-generous restaurant staff...

the journey continued...

1.26 pm

2.21 pm

We were going good ... excited and thrilled - not knowing how this whole thing would turn out to be... but evening was settling in and we wondered how much we could we continue... Vizag was in our mind... however that goal seemed too far and our tiresome bodies yearned for some badly needed rest. We however continued...

Finally decided to park at Nellore - in some hotel - so we took the left turn from National Highway that took us inside Nellore... After a couple of attempts we finally found a vacant room in hotel Anurag... not much - 2000 Rs for one night - we settled without much bargain... It was almost 10 pm and getting 2 plates of food seemed remote - when a skinny dark boy came to our rescue - he promised us the highest quality of Biryani for only 200 rs. We settled for only 1 plate and decided to share the food between us. The biryani was a tad too oily - but we were hungry as well... so we gulped in fast and the taste was not so bad actually... we were thankful that we diddn't have to sleep empty-stomach.

Day2 - (14 feb 2016) odometer reading - 44349 km

We got up early - had a very sound sleep - felt refreshed... and went for a stroll to know the place - vrc center in nellore.

This place didn't look very clean

It was not possible to find a good place to have breakfast... after buying 2 bottles of bisleri we came back to the restarurant and were quite surprised to discover that first floor had complimentary breakfast. Didn't have the slightest hint about it. Nice and delicious Idly + Vada. as my mobile gps was getting offline too often, i recharged with a roaming pack - and this took quite sometime and so we were late to leave the hotel.

Day 2 journey started around 11am in the morning. Odometer reading - 44349 km and we were soon speeding away at 80plus km/hr down the highway road towards Vishakhapatanam.

Afternoon time and we were hungry again... this time we weren't so lucky. Lunch wasn't so good and we were feeling sick... may be due to stomach disorder...

At around 44532 km on the odo, we halted for coconut water and stretched to get some blood flow through our tired veins...

....and then resumed our journey... miles to go before we could sleep.......

at around 5 pm below video was shot -

As it grew dark, we kept on going - but soon we felt tired. decided to rest in some hotel in Nellore. Google suggested River Bay at Rajahmundry - and so we decided to give it a try.

..... which turned out to be an excellent decision eventually.

because not only the hotel was nice but also the food was finger-licking-delicious.

We slept like logs of wood....

Day3 - (15 feb 2016); odometer - 44800 km; started journey at 9:08 am

we woke up around 7 am, quickly freshened up and then had a quick look around the hotel. Oh my God, it was such a lovely place with the mighty and gorgeous river Godavari just infront of the hotel. a picture can depict the beauty of this place here better than words.... so here we go -

We finished the complimentary breakfast - which was really awesome... and then began our journey - quite early this time - sharp at 9:15 am. this allowed us to cover quite a large distance before we paused for lunch.

Afternoon and we were really hungry and kept looking for a hotel but without any luck. Finally we found one... and this time we were lucky. food good - just like the 1st day. Or may be even better. South Indian meals - 2 plates. Completely satisfied and gave away a 50 Rs. tip...

After covering 183 km we saw tender coconuts at road side and decided to take a break.

As we continued our journey the highway became really good... and we were able to maintain a speed of 100+ km /h for a long period of time.

We covered a lot of distance in this good-road-stretch and provided us confidence to complete the whole journey on the third day itself.

it was getting dark and we made up our mind to continue through the evening till late night...

At 5.38 pm - below video was taken:

It was a long long journey - with no signs of the destination within reach - we kept going and we just continued endlessly....

When we reached Bhubaneswar it was mid-night 12:00 am. The GPS brought us right at the gate of the house. Odometer reading - 45500 km.

We freshened up by sprinkling water into our tired eyes and quickly sat for dinner... while explaining our daredevil adventure to folks...

It was a nice experience... though at times my partner and myself were under stress - we wondered quite a few times - what was the need to travel such a long distance in a car... but then - there were bright sides as well... we saw lot of new places - escpecially the Gorgeous Godavari River in Rajahmundry... villages, farm lands, villagers farming, good scenery on both sides of the road and so many things.

Nevertheless, it's something we will cherish for a long time.

Interested in reading other car-travel-blogs? well here are the links... Please share and like these on facebook if you find them interesting...

The stretch from Vishakapatnam to Bhubaneswar was really awesome - driving is a treat. overall roads are good - only in few places you will find not-so-good roads. Please share the post in facebook and also like the youtube posts in this blog if you found this helpful :-)